 Welcome to Hard Questions, where we gather pastors together to take on your tough questions and answer them right from the Bible. I'm Tom Hollis, the moderator, and today our panelists include Dr. Weymar Glaze, Bethany Baptist Church in Pittsburgh, Pastor Buck Schaefer, Grace Life Church, Monroeville and North Hills, Pete Giacalone, South Hills Assembly Guy Church, Bethel Park, PA, J. Anthony Gilbert, pastor of another level in the North Hills area, pastors, I want to thank you for being here. I know you're all busy. We're able to come here and answer our questions today. Let's dive right into the questions with this one. When Jesus told the thief on the cross, today you will be with me in paradise. How can that be possible if Jesus was dead for three days, then rose from the dead? Buck? Well, we talked about this a few shows ago, but you know, the scriptural references that we know of, Jesus went to hell. And so for us in our place, he spoiled principalities. He made a show of them openly. He triumphed over them in the cross. So a lot happened in those three days, right? We know he laid captivity captive. We know he defeated death hell in the grave. We know he took the keys to death hell in the grave and he ascended. He rose again. He preached. He talked. He was on the planet for a short time before he ascended. But there's so many scriptures like Psalms 22 that say, you know, it talks about the prophetic word of David where he says, I look all my bones, stare upon me, and you have brought me down to the dust of hell. Dogs and campus me round about bulls of bations, Psalms 22. We look at Psalm 1610. It says, your soul was not left in hell, nor did you see corruption. So then we go over to Matthew 1240 and he talks to us about as the son of, or excuse me, as Jonah was in the belly of the well, so were the son of man being the heart of the earth three days. So as we break that down, we know that Jesus departed, went to hell, destroyed those principalities and powers, rose up. So, you know, and then we could get into Abraham's bosom, an old covenant where people waited and tarried. But I believe according to the word of God, there's a lot of scripture to show that he did that, went to hell in three days and won the victory for us. So the important thing is he rose again and won the victory for us. That's good. I have a secondary question about this that I'd like to throw out there right now is, because the person that wrote in emphasized the word then. And I don't know, is there a then, is there a then then, you know, is there a time in eternity? Is there a time, does time pass like it does now? I don't know, you can deal with that or... In eternity, there is no time. Time is, you know, forever and forever and forever. So there isn't any time in eternity whatsoever. Yeah. Well, Pastor Glaze, any thoughts on this? Yeah. Then I would look at it like this. If Jesus said to the thief today, you're going to be with me in paradise. I don't know what he did after that, you know, as Buck was sharing. But it seemed like immediately when they both died, that they both went to paradise. Right, yeah. Because Jesus said, you're going to be with me today. So that was then, you know, and then after that, you know. So maybe with his faith, he escorted them to paradise and then one took care of Satan and his problems. There's no telling what he did. The Bible gives us some things, but we have to remember, too, when you die, you step out of time. So there's no telling where and what we can't fathom everything in eternity. So Jesus had the ability, he stepped out. I mean, think about that for a minute. He died, he steps out of his life, does work in eternity, and then come back and get in there to tell us about it. And then brings back a bunch of cohorts that were, I mean, this is a bad man with Gemma right here. I mean, like, you're talking about leaving time, going into eternity. Releasing captives, working everything out. They coming back with them, back into time. I mean, so if you want to get into all that stuff, and I mean, it gets pretty deep. So there's no telling what he did, but he did it. And if it's that three days, that's it for me. Three days when he came back. All right, let's go to the next question. How did the tradition of praying to the saints in the Catholic faith come about? Is it biblical? Pete, first of all, it's not biblical. And then it goes back to about the third and fourth century BC. So it goes back to the third or fourth century, where I said BC, third or fourth. Yeah, third or fourth century. And the whole idea is, in those days, they were canonizing people as saints. One particular denomination. Can I say it? It was the Catholic denomination. That was, you know, and there's a criteria by which you were considered a saint. So many miracles had to take place, and then you had to be dead for so many years. And then, you know, they recognized you, they vested you as being a saint. And then the whole idea there is that the saint now, the martyr who died for Christ, or the saint who died for Christ, has an extra idea of grace upon their life. Therefore now, not only, you know, did they die for the sake of Christ, but now they're able to intercede for you. Now, I caution, there's only one who intercedes for us. And that is the Lord Jesus Christ. Matter of fact, the Bible tells us today that even today that Jesus is at the right hand of the Father, interceding for us today. And to me, it'd be blasphemous for me to pray. There's no other name under heaven whereby we can be saved. There's no other name that we can be healed. There's no other name that we can be delivered. It's Jesus and Jesus only. You know, it's interesting because I went to a Catholic website and looked at that. And pretty much what you said about, you know, the second, third century, you know. But to each one of the objections about praying to the saints, that they had an apologetic for it. So I mean, for what you just now said, it was interesting that, you know, they have their theologians who have actually thought about these answers like that you would give and they have an answer for it. So they can't, it can't be coming out of the scriptures. Their answer. I don't see where there's anything in the scriptures where you would pray to anyone besides God through the name of Jesus, and it says over here in Timothy two, five, one God, one mediator between God and man, period. So we pray in the name of Jesus, period. You know, it's not Mary. It's not Mary is a good woman, but she's not a virgin anymore. She had other kids. Yeah. So, you know, there's nowhere that we pray to any saint in the word of God. And I think the dangerous too is when you start saying they work these miracles, now we're getting into self righteousness too. Our righteousness has not been fulfilled. So as a result, if we get a certain amount of things, we get an elevation to kingdom, which is totally unscriptural, 100% Bible says our righteousness is as filthy rags. So we can't canonize people are not canonize, but make them saints because of what they've done here on earth. That would mean that the blood of Jesus is no longer needed. I was just going to say real quick, another thing, the scripture condemns communication with the dead. So, I mean, that there was another point, you know, Yeah, and I'm sure they have a policy right here. Let me ask you about the word saint. What does it mean for us? What do you see as the word saint? Paul calls us saints. Right. The moment we come to know. You're not dead yet. And he does, Paul. We all refer to as the saints of God. You know, every Sunday when I preach, I have a line and it's because of Ron Henry. Ron always called everyone beloved. And I took it another another step. I said, I call my congregate congregants precious chosen saints of God. Every one of them know that's going to be in my message someplace precious. Every one of you are precious. Every one of you chosen and every one of you are saying of God right now. Not by your works, but according to what he has done. That's good. I'm preaching. So I think we got that one down there. So let's go to the next one. Why are head coverings no longer required in church today again? It seems like a biblical injunction for women to have their head covered. So Jay. Yeah. First Corinthians. It was just a Corinthian culture that was a representation of being under authority of the man at the head of the house. So it'd be no different now than like certain people, Baptist people sometimes do it and different church vote not necessarily Dr. Glazes, but they wear garbs. Even when I got ordained years ago, they gave me a garb symbolic of that mantle and stuff that you walked in. I mean, now you take that off. It's not that it's an outward showing of something that is spiritually representation of something spiritual. That's all that it is. So it's not like women have to walk around with the head covering or they're not under the authority. I'd rather have a woman that doesn't wear it, but under the authority than a woman that wears it, but doesn't live it. So, you know, I mean, so the reality is, is that it's just a representation. And so the reason why it's really technically, we're still wearing them just not physically. We're wearing them spiritually. Well, but we've all their old line churches that still do that, right? I mean, you probably have been to a church. Well, they say they say that women should keep silent in the church. I think what they do is take that out of context. And Paul was addressing the culture issue of the day. So if you don't wear your hat, you're just being rebellious because you aren't submitted. And that's what that meant in that time. Exactly. You're just not under authority. I think even in the African American culture, maybe more, there's some churches that do that. Well, yeah, I mean, if you come to the average black church on a Sunday morning, there's a, I mean, it's like a hat affair, man. But it's worth her look. Well, it is worth a look, but I think it's birthed out of that. You know, but now, yeah, it's definitely for fashion now. Yeah. Well, that's good. Good answers. Well, stay tuned. We'll be back in just 60 seconds and ask, did Christ come to bring peace or division? Welcome back to Hard Questions. Here's our next question. I think this is a great one. The Old Testament says Christ would come and bring peace. But in reality, didn't he cause the vision? Great question, Pastor Pete. I say yes to both statements. Yes. He, you know, in Zacharias says he came riding lowly on a donkey. And what he, the peace that he brought, Tom, was the peace between man and God. That's the, you know, remember the old, old Miss America contest, beauty contest years ago, back in the 70s. And they would always ask if you had one wish and she would get up and she'd say, oh, my only wish is that there'd be world peace. You're in La Laville. There'll never be world peace. I think she sounded a little better. Oh, I'm sure. And I'm not making fun. I guess I am. But but the point is, they'll know as long as there's two men on this earth in this flesh, they'll never be world peace. They'll never be peace. But the point, the peace that we're talking about is the peace that that any man, any woman can have with God, the peace that surpasses all understanding that is available. But the peace of world peace, because I hear some super spirituals, you know, taking authority, I'm taking authority. This is going to be world peace. You're wasting your prayers. It's not going to happen until the Prince of Peace comes back and we have under a new world order under our Lord Jesus Christ. Then we'll live under a complete shalom piece of God. That's good. You know, Jesus also said, I come to bring a sword, a division. And so there's going to be a division. And, you know, people think Jesus is a little limpristic guy walking around, loving everybody. He was a man. He came in there, flipped over those tables. He drove them out. He said, this is called to be a house of prayer. He looked at he looked at right religious people. We called them snakes. I mean, he came to divide some stuff. He told them, you know, we're going to we're going to serve you, Lord. But we need to go bury our parents. He said, let the dead bury the dead. Someone tells you, hey, let someone else bury your dad. We got work to do. So he really turned the tables, even of religious thinking. And the Sadducees and Pharisees. And he came to bring a sword and said, hey, are you going to eat my body? Are you going to take of my flesh? Are you going to partake? And they said, many went away and walk with them no more. He said, that's gross, but he was trying to get something across. And he said, hey, we're going to stay. You have the words, the eternal life. So he came with some hard stuff that divided people. And he even said that your enemies will be members of your own family. Can you comment on that, Pastor Glaze? Well, you know, if you're living for the Lord and your family is not, I'm not saying that they're serving the devil. But, you know, it's too diametrically opposed kingdoms. You know, so if I'm living for the Lord, I'm living for His kingdom. And if I got people in my family and they're not living for the Lord, then there is going to be clashes. You know, there's going to be times when we don't agree. And, you know, I remember we were talking about the Masons a little earlier when I came back to Pittsburgh, I was staying with my mom and she was an Eastern star. And she asked me what I donate, you know, they were having an event and she asked me what I donate, you know, make a donation. Now, I'm staying with her. You know, I should be paying my bill in a house somewhere else, right? But, you know, I was staying with her till, you know, I got got situated. And I broke my heart, man, to tell her that, no, mama, you know, I can't I can't give. So I think that, you know, because we had two different philosophies about things. And so I think that's what Jesus was talking about when you have those philosophies that it actually divides families. Yeah. Yeah. OK. Oh, good. All right. Let's go on to the next one. What is the purpose of a book like Song of Solomon? I don't know why you would ask that, but no, I do. It's one of those things you say, why is this even in the Bible? What is the is the purpose of a book like Song of Solomon, Pastor Glace? Well, you know, actually, when you look at the Old Testament and the New Testament, there were some books that was originally denied, act, you know, entrance into the canon. And the Song of Solomon was one and one of the things that was said that it was too erotic. And if you read through it and, you know, sometimes you might not pick it up in the King James language, but if you maybe have a good commentary or you know, you read through another translation, you see a lot of erotic things going on. And so people would say, well, what purpose does it does that have, you know, in the canon of Scripture? And some people try to say, well, this shows a relationship between the love that, you know, God has for us Christ. And I mean, all that stuff is good. But the bottom line of why it's in there is it's trying to teach the proper love relationship between a husband and wife. What love, what the physical act of sex looks like in a marriage between a man and a woman. And that's the purpose that is in it. That's right. All right. Tim LaHaye really goes in depth with that in a book, The Act of Marriage. So I would encourage every married couple and those who are going to be married get that book, The Act of Marriage. It's an old, old book, but he really takes apart the song of Solomon almost verse by verse and displays what this is talking about. One commentary said this, that the book of Solomon is a pure source of human love and joy. He designed that that marriage would include the sensual pleasure. Here we go, of a healthy sexual relationship. So and then, correct me if I'm wrong, but I was told and taught that a true Israeli was not allowed to read this till he was about 30 years of age because of the all the implications that were here. I agree. And that that one thing he states in that he says, stir up not this until it's time. In other words, you don't need to be reading this until you're in that courting and dating, because it is so like, like Doctor said. Yeah. You know, it's interesting with what you said. I do accept the symbolic view of it as well. You know, it is a it can be applied to the love of Christ for the church. You know, and just some things in there, I think, really speak to me as as that love relationship. I don't know what your thoughts are towards that, Jay. Yeah. Well, I think one of the things with that, too, though, is you take a look at like the transgender and two men together, two women together. It doesn't work in that book. There's and if it would have been important to God, he would have made sure that had been in Song of Solomon. He would have made sure something within there. But there's there's no mixer. You can't you can't be in a homosexual relationship and use that book because it's the true expression as you read between a man and a woman. According to God's ways, just pursuing that a little bit more wired. If a person feels like they have transgender or that they're another because we get this, we get this question. What does a person do who says I'm trapped in the wrong body? I'm trapped in the wrong gender. What should the what is God trying to convince them of two things? One, the real simple natural side of it is that sometimes there's counseling that's needed. A lot of times people that battle with that, they were sexually abused, raped, things like that. So now it opens up a door to a spirit of confusion into the world. So it's important to deal with that, not to keep those things private. It's made people deal with those things and then they come out later on of shame and everything, or even by their own family. And so they're battling these spirits and eventually they're given over to a spirit of perversion as a result of that. Number two, that's why people say I was born that way. Well, that's why the Bible says to be born again. So we need to come to Christ and realize even though I'm feeling this way, it doesn't mean I have to stay that way. I have to come to God side with this word, receive his salvation and become born again. Yeah, good point. It's just two men doesn't work. It's not scriptural. It's unseemingly. And take it from a guy who made that mistake of having a thousand women in his life with 700 some wives, some concubines. He has a little wisdom and Solomon's on the Solomon. Exactly. Well, good answers. Good questions coming up in 60 seconds. We ask, why does God call us to eat his flesh and drink his blood? We'll be right back. OK, we have our final question here. It's a good one. Why does God call us to eat his flesh and drink his blood? Actually, Christ calls us to that. And that is really hard for us to understand. What do you say to that, Dr. Glaze? Well, let me read part of that scripture in John chapter six, verse 53, then Jesus said unto them, very, very, I say unto you, except you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood. You have no life in you. He who eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood, have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is the food indeed and my blood is the drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me and I in him. As the living father have sent me and I live by the father, so he that eateth my eateth me, even he shall live by me. And so I believe that in these verses here, Jesus is speaking figuratively, you know, and he's saying that that I'm going to die, you know, I'm going through the cross, that my body is going to be broken. My blood is going to be shed. And unless you accept me, you know, and and and even what comes along with that, because, you know, it's interesting. And I always remember this verse, John six, six, six, you know, where it says that after Jesus got finished talking about eating his blood and drinking his flesh, it said that many of his disciples turned away and followed him no more. And then Jesus turns to the other ones and Jesus says, are you guys going to leave also? And Peter said, where are we going to go? Only you have the words of life. And so Jesus is saying that by accepting him, which is, you know, which we symbolically celebrate through communion, we accept him. We eat his body, we drink his blood, that we have life when we accept him as our Lord and Savior. So I believe that he's speaking. Now, again, the religion that Pete used to belong to, you know, they will tell you that it's a literal eating of the body and blood. Right. Yeah. But I believe that it's symbolic of accepting him, following him, and even to the fact of being persecuted. And we're all on board. That's symbolic, right? This is a symbolic view. And Tom, the answer is right in verse 63. Jesus answers it himself. Again, if people would just read on, it is a spirit who gives life. The flesh profits nothing. The words I speak to you are spirit and they are life. So in other words, Jesus is literally saying to him, I'm not telling you in realistically to eat of my flesh and drink of my blood. So, and again, that's known as transubstantiation. And we were literally taught that that host actually becomes the actual body of Christ. And I know some Pentecostals that still and the costals that believe that that actually becomes the body of Christ and the Jews actually becomes. I don't believe in transubstantiation because, again, the flesh doesn't profit whatsoever. One thought on that is if you really study Jesus and the disciples, they were always looking like when he made the statement, hey, you know, I got we got some lunch. We go out to get some meat and they were all like in the flesh. Like who brought meat? Who brought me Jesus was trying to tell him. And I think this is a statement that helps us lift up your eyes, lift up your eyes and see so that the disciples were always Peter's ready to take a hold of things in the flesh, cut someone's ear off. Who's got the meat? Where's the barbecue? And Jesus was saying, listen, my meat, my sustenance, what sustains me is to do the will of him that sent me. So when these guys, when they said that that's that low level of thinking in the flesh in the church today, it's always what's it mean? We walk by faith, not by sight. So when you're walking in the spirit, you get revelation instead of revelation of, hey, like, like, and again, I came out of Catholicism. It was like, this turns to the body of Christ partake. Here's the drink. It's his blood and as a little kid, I was like, this is gory. But the reality is like Dr. Glacid, if you lift up your eyes and get the revelation of that, you see what he's trying to say in just me. Let me be your life, your sustainer. And that's what that means. It's a spiritual deal. You know, I think that's what we always try to do. We always try to take God, the spiritual things and how can we make it natural and, you know, think about it. A lot of people don't go this far as when he did the last supper. Do you know how hard that must have been for the disciples to digest? Not naturally, but you got to remember for thousands of years now, they've been eating the lamb. Now you got this guy coming on. A lot of people don't like anyway. It's talking about now eat me here. Here's my body. We broke the door. Everybody's like, this is a beautiful thing. I'm sure they're saying, like, wait a minute, you hear this guy? You know, you had to hear him with the spirit because he was changing the game at that point. He said, all right, y'all been doing it up to here. But from here on out, I'm going to show you a new way. And then he told him now because of this, now I'm going to give you a new commandment. So he not only gave them the new command, but he also gave them the sustenance spiritually in order to do it. And if we don't hear it from the spirit, that's why let me say it is for all pastors and preachers that are watching, just because somebody misinterprets your message doesn't mean you always need to give an explanation. Sometimes they're just not of the spirit that you're of. A lot of time they hear it with the wrong spirit, even though your heart is right. Don't feel bad because of that. I mean, isn't it going back to what you said, Pastor Bill, is that they left a bunch left and he didn't even try to keep him. Hey, wait a minute, I'll explain what I mean. Come on back here. I'll explain what I mean. He didn't do that. And for once Peter got it right. Got it right when he said, I'm sorry, when he said, where can we go? Peter got it. You have the words of eternal life. The emphasis is the words. I'm sorry. And are we hearing with our hearts, not these ears? Are we listening to the spirit with our hearts? That's right. That's right. He's a bad Mamma Jamma. Oh, okay. Come on. Don't get, don't write to me. I'm going to say it because he is. It's a attention, Pastor J. Anthony Gilbert, if you have any problems with that. Remember what he said, he said, who is this man? Who? He was there saying, he's a bad mamma jamma. And Jesus wants us to know, hey, this is about remembering me. Remember what I did. Remember the finished work of God. As often as you do this and partake, you're doing it remembrance of him. It's a spiritual thing. Yeah, very good. Well, we like to end the program with the scripture. And today we go to the Psalms where it says, if you Lord should mark iniquities, Oh Lord, who could stand? But there is forgiveness with you that you may be feared. Pastor Pete, give me 30 seconds on that verse. Feared, reverent. Oh, we just did the awe of God, the fear of God. And I highly recommend it to, to really revere God. They have such a holiness for him. And also it's a fearful thing to fall in the hands of a living God, so it goes both ways. And he doesn't mark iniquities. No, no, thank the Lord. The east is from the west. There's not a little ticker thing up in heaven. The good news is you are forgiven. Yeah, that's right. You are forgiven. Well, we hope you enjoyed today's program. And we want to hear from you. You can email us your questions at hardquestionsatctvn.org. That's hard questions at ctvn.org. Or you can call it to our hotline. 412-349-4326. You need to do that. We'd love to hear your questions. Have a wonderful day in the Lord. Listen, he loves you. He cares for you. He's forgiven your sins. If you know him.